I know and I got the new book about their early days and it’s coming up, but someone sent me an innocuous e-mail this morning and now I need to listen to every Scarlet>Fire ever played.

You are highly suggestible.

I have made it a point to never be hypnotized.

Talk about the S>F.

IT IS SO GOOD!

Trenchant analysis.

It’s fast as hell and doesn’t slow down for Fire; most versions do and it kills the momentum, but this one seems to actually be speeding up. Mickey is MVM (Most Valuable Mickey) of this one, thrashing his toms in triplet thunder and egging Billy and the rest of them on.

Sometimes Phil plays some notes, and that is good, but here he plays ALL THE NOTES and that is so, so much better. Phil’s notes bop and bwump way down low and Garcia’s notes dwee and wah-oo all the way up top and the rest of them are in the middle and the drummers are beautiful and all is beautiful and so very loud.

There is also MIDI bullshit, which is awesome. TotD is now declaring this the BEST EVAR Scarlet>Fire.

But why would he bother? Getting paid royalties for 30 seconds of studio “Antwerp’s Placebo” seems more up his alley. I’m thinking Garcia really wrote it, and Mickey just Mickeyed the paperwork while Jerry was distracted for most of the late ’70s.

The melody of Fire first surfaced on a tune called “Happiness is Drumming” from Mickey’s Diga Rhythm Band album. Of course, the melody is mostly voiced by a guitarist friend of Mickey’s who’s sitting in…

Is it the mutron ? Is it the changly keys, is it the smoking 32nd notes, is it the transition — more subtle than china-rider, more flexible –, is it the drums, is it Phil — this song actually ties Phil into a somewhat structured role.. what is it..what is it..